Nurses please try to look a little more polished at work
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to the smokers i work with, please do yourselves and patients a favor by brushing your teeth after smoking. the smell of smoke makes me gag, and i feel sorry for your already nauseated patients.
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I find it humorous that one would point out another's grammatical shortcomings when they themself suffer the same affliction. I personally freely admit that my grammar is of a lesser quality.

Do you propose that there is not a link, or question the existence thereof, between appearance and professional perception? I was under the impression that this was a long held principle that was far from debate, my sociology and leadership courses have again failed me.

The professionalism, and the appearance thereof, of an individual nurse affects the entire profession. We all have the ethical duty, as outlined by the ANA code of ethics, to maintain and preserve the profession. We are not viewed as individuals by our patients, we are viewed as a professional entity.

I was under the impression that this was a nursing forum, I would think that the ranting of fellow nurses would be par for the course. She has a real grievance that she wanted to express to her fellow nurses and she did so, keeping the offender's identity non specific and anonymous. I can find no fault in her actions but I am but a humble nurse with no opinions or grievances.

The point I am trying to make, and have been trying to make all along, is that we all fall short of being the perfect professional nurse. At some point, probably all of us have bad breath, look less than lovely, misspell a word, use poor grammar, are not as compassionate to patients as we should be....
The list is endless. Yet, as several other posts have mentioned, we have one of these threads every few months where fellow nurses need to point out the faults of others. It is tiring. It accomplishes nothing. The nurses with bad breath continue to have bad breath. The sloppy nurses continue to be sloppy. The nurses using poor grammar and spelling continue to do so. The nurses who are late continue to arrive late. I have yet to see a post on this forum result in another allnurses.com member responding with "Why, now that you mention it, that's exactly my problem! I will change immediately and never do that again."

There is a productive way to accomplish many things. As I said in the post you've quoted, a productive way to create change would be for the OP to take the research that backs up her assertions to a unit-based council, as she clearly feels strongly about this issue. Others have differing opinions on what is the most important aspect of professionalism, as they have stated in their posts. I hear the same complaints at work and on these fora all the time, yet change doesn't occur. I have taken my own concerns to my unit-based council and have assisted in changing policies. Complaints accomplish nothing. Unfortunately, even proposals backed by research sometimes accomplish nothing, but I will take my chances in trying to change things in a manner that has proven effective.

I think complaint without action is undermining the nursing profession in a manner that sloppy attire can't rival.

One, if you're going to have a screen name that promotes your Christianity, you're setting yourself up as an example of Christianity. Thus, when you judge, you're opening yourself up to having "Though shallt not judge" comments. It's why I don't put a Jesus fish on my car, I know that while driving, I'm not going to always be a good example of my faith.

Two, if you can't spell, work on the 2x4 in your own eye making YOU look unprofessional before you go complaining about another's splinter making them look unprofessional.

Yes, we all get to vent. Even Christians. But if YOU are going to make an obvious display of your Christianity, you can't be surprised when someone points out that particular vent is counter to one of the tenets of your faith.

Even XS scrubs are too long for me, and I'm certainly not spending my days off hemming them. They don't drag the floor but if they sag (no belt loops, no matter how tight I pull the them they sometimes sag) sometimes the edges drag under my shoes and on the ground. Until you have been a person who can't find scrubs short enough, shut it. =D

Ok, I'M a person who's had this problem (before I found petite pants that really ARE petite).

I went to a seamstress, who tailored them to fit me beautifully, with about fifteen minutes' time taken out of my life to put them on so she could pin them and try them on when she was done.

May 17, '12

Joined: Jan '09; Posts: 5,390; Likes: 10,367

Yeah, LOL, taking about "impaired". For those who cannot punch their way out of a paper bag (eg posters who can't fix own pants):

Just go get some fusible bonding web or tape (Stitch Witchery). Cut your pant legs extra fabric off, with an inch or so to spare. Fold that inch up to make a hem and then iron that hem nice and sharp. Let the fabric cool. Then place a strip of the fusible inside the cuff you just ironed nice. Then follow package directions and iron-fuse your permanent seam. It's washable folks.

yeah, lol, taking about "impaired". for those who cannot punch their way out of a paper bag (eg posters who can't fix own pants):

just go get some fusible bonding web or tape (stitch witchery). cut your pant legs extra fabric off, with an inch or so to spare. fold that inch up to make a hem and then iron that hem nice and sharp. let the fabric cool. then place a strip of the fusible inside the cuff you just ironed nice. then follow package directions and iron-fuse your permanent seam. it's washable folks.

and most importantly, you can be an idiot and do this!!!

​or you could try ocn's "guide to being a seamstress": try krazyglue. if that doesn't work, try staples. if staples don't work, proceed to garbage can.

Wow, so many responses... I didn't read them all but looks like a great debate. I wanted to address some of the posts I did read.
Purple scrubs and OCRN( sorry if I screwed up your name) I'm so sorry both of you are going through some personal/health issues. This thread was not targeted to any caregivers or those suffering from illness. I'm simply talking about co-workers who I worked with in the past who deliberately came to work smelling like smoke, cologne, and just clearly had a problem with hygiene.

To the posters that are concerned with my username. If you most know, I chose that name for a completly different reason than you may think. OnlybyHisgrace does not mean I'm mother theresa by long shot, I've never claimed to be a part of a religion. A user name should not determine a persons religion. Murderers and theives can wear crosses and have the fish symbol on their car. It should be taken with a grain of salt IMO. My username is significant to me. That is all.

I should have chosen better words, but I didn't... but then again this is why this thread has become some popular.

I think it's simple. Come to work with good hygiene, try not to wear perfumes that are overwhelming to the patients, wear clothes that fit.... Why is that so freakin hard to conceive?

​or you could try ocn's "guide to being a seamstress": try krazyglue. if that doesn't work, try staples. if staples don't work, proceed to garbage can.

nope. ocnrn63 are you just trying to be "mean" by leading our impaired members astray? dontcha just know that the little snowflakes as cute as they are, are gonna take that krazyglue and get it on their fingers - which will go right up their noses (where those fingers are when snowflakes have to think hard), and then guess what?!?! they will be unable to drive to work, and unable to call in either.

And people wonder why this kind of thread is considered inappropriate by some people. It's gone from questionably rude to DEFINITELY rude. Nothing more than a bandwagon for better-than-thous to jump on. Birds of a feather flock together and only seem to get more foul in groups.